'''John Howe''' was born on [[August 21]]st, [[1957]], in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is a graduate of Ecole des Arts Dècoratifs de Strasbourg in France. Howe has illustrated many of Tolkien's works including ''[[The Hobbit]]'', ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', and ''[[The Silmarillion]]''. He now lives in Neuchatel, Switzerland with his wife and son.

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{{artist infobox

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| image=[[File:John Howe.jpg|250px]]

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| name=John Howe

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| born=[[21 August]], [[1957]]

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| died=

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| location=[[Wikipedia:Switzerland|Switzerland]]

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| website=[http://www.john-howe.com/ John-Howe.com]

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}}

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'''John Howe''' is a renowned artist. He has illustrated numerous [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] books and calendars. Together with [[Alan Lee]], Howe was a concept artist for both [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'' (film series)]] and [[The Hobbit (film series)|''The Hobbit'' (film series)]].

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Howe, along with his colleague [[Alan Lee]], was the lead artist for [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]. Contrary to popular belief, he does not appear as one of the nine [[Nazgûl|Kings of Men]] in the Prologue of [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring]]. Howe is often identified as the second from the left, but an unaltered picture published on page 3 of [[Chris Smith]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare]]'' shows it to be a completely different person.

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==History==

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John Howe was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He graduated from the École des Arts Dècoratifs of [[wikipedia:Strasbourg|Strasbourg]]. Howe has illustrated many of Tolkien's works including ''[[The Hobbit]]'', ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', and ''[[The Silmarillion]]''. He now lives in [[wikipedia:Neuchatel|Neuchatel]] with his wife and son.

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Howe's [[:Image:John Howe - Boromir 01.jpg|version]] of [[Boromir (son of Denethor II)|Boromir]] is based on his own face.

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Howe's [[:File:John Howe - Boromir 01.jpg|version]] of [[Boromir]] is based on his own face.

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==Quotes==

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===The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy===

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{{quote|Illustrating Tolkien means treading warily, dipping one's brush in shadow and rinsing them in light. Battle and balance, down the impossible path between the clear and the obscure.|John Howe on painting Middle-earth, ''[[Tolkien's World; Paintings of Middle-earth|Tolkien's World]]''.}}

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Howe, along with his colleague [[Alan Lee]], was the lead artist for [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'' (film series)]]. Contrary to popular belief, he does not appear as one of the nine [[Nazgûl|Kings of Men]] in the Prologue of [[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]. Howe is often identified as the second from the left, but a picture with better light shows that to be a different person.<ref>[[Chris Smith]], ''[[The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare]]'', p. 3; [[Jude Fisher]], ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Visual Companion|The Return of the King Visual Companion]]'', p. 32.</ref>

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{{quote|Somewhat shamefully I am obliged to admit that I first read ''[[The Two Towers]]'' and ''[[The Return of the King]]'', and finally ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]''. [...] Thus, I plunged directly into the world of Tolkien just above the [[Falls of Rauros]] and have been swimming diligently ever since.|John Howe on his reading experience, ''[[Tolkien's World; Paintings of Middle-earth|Tolkien's World]]''.}}

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{{quote|It was this place in North Island, and we wandered round these fields saying, well, [[Bag End]] can go here, that can be our party tree; it was very exciting. It's almost even more fun to have a location imposed upon you, because you really have to get down to brass tacks and figure it out, imagine it on paper. It's a real illustrator's job.|John Howe on working for [[Weta]], [http://movies.ign.com/articles/034/034289p1.html Interview].}}

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==Published Artwork==

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== See Also ==

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Howe is one of [[HarperCollins]]' most used artists, and his cover art is frequently featured on translations as well.

{{quote|Illustrating Tolkien means treading warily, dipping one's brush in shadow and rinsing them in light. Battle and balance, down the impossible path between the clear and the obscure.|John Howe on painting Middle-earth, ''[[Tolkien's World: Paintings of Middle-earth|Tolkien's World]]''.}}

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{{quote|Somewhat shamefully I am obliged to admit that I first read ''[[The Two Towers]]'' and ''[[The Return of the King]]'', and finally ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]''. [...] Thus, I plunged directly into the world of Tolkien just above the [[Rauros|Falls of Rauros]] and have been swimming diligently ever since.|John Howe on his reading experience, ''[[Tolkien's World: Paintings of Middle-earth|Tolkien's World]]''.}}

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{{quote|It was this place in North Island, and we wandered round these fields saying, well, [[Bag End]] can go here, that can be our party tree; it was very exciting. It's almost even more fun to have a location imposed upon you, because you really have to get down to brass tacks and figure it out, imagine it on paper. It's a real illustrator's job.|John Howe on working for [[Weta Workshop|Weta]], [http://movies.ign.com/articles/034/034289p1.html Interview].}}

"It was this place in North Island, and we wandered round these fields saying, well, Bag End can go here, that can be our party tree; it was very exciting. It's almost even more fun to have a location imposed upon you, because you really have to get down to brass tacks and figure it out, imagine it on paper. It's a real illustrator's job."